A lot of noise over changes in city's sound ordinance

Updated 4:25 pm, Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Paul VanDemark, general manager at Fitzgeralds, in the Heights, said he's made changes to the venue, but it has gotten several noise citations in the past year.

Paul VanDemark, general manager at Fitzgeralds, in the Heights, said he's made changes to the venue, but it has gotten several noise citations in the past year.

Photo: Johnny Hanson

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Paul VanDemark, general manager at Fitzgeralds, a live music venue in the Heights, said he has been proactive to make changes to the venue, like adding two doors to an exit and closing off windows with a noise absorbing drywall and gel, to prevent noise pollution in the neighborhood even before the new noise ordinance was in effect Thursday, May 24, 2012, in Houston. The venue has received several citations for noise in the past year. Houston new noise ordinance has seen club owners, djs and music promoters jailed for excessive noise, and they complain the new law is unfair. The ordinance allows Houston police to make a judgment call on whether a noise coming from a music venue is excessive, without requiring a reading from a meter. "We deal with many of our neighbors directly," VanDemark said. "It's hard to say that the noise is from us or because there are more people in the area with all of the new bars on the street."

Paul VanDemark, general manager at Fitzgeralds, a live music venue in the Heights, said he has been proactive to make changes to the venue, like adding two doors to an exit and closing off windows with a noise

Houston's bustling cityscape comes with the usual cacophony of roaring traffic, blaring construction and the beat of booming car stereos. And there are the legions of barking dogs.

Depending on your persuasion, the urban soundtrack can be comforting or something to wage war on.

The latest participants in the never-ending noise battle are local nightclub owners who feel they have been unfairly targeted after the Houston City Council updated the noise ordinance in October. They have been issued hundreds of citations and have seen club workers arrested.

The noise ordinance sets limits for sound, which are measured by a decibel meter. The revised law now allows a police officer to issue a violation if bass notes coming from a property cause "vibrations or resonance" to be felt at another property. Previously, officers in these situations could not subjectively flag violators - they had to use a decibel meter. Violators can receive up to a $1,000 fine.

Club owners have met with city officials and spent thousands of dollars making sound-deadening improvements, but say they are still getting ticketed. To change what they feel is an unjust ordinance, they're raising money through a political action committee to lobby Mayor Annise Parker's administration.

"We're essentially trying to set performance standards for music venues, bars and clubs, and there's nothing we have to work with. Right now, compliance is based upon an officer's subjective opinion instead of having an objective performance standard," said Joshua Sanders, policy director for Hall Attorneys which represents the Greater Houston Entertainment Political Action Committee.

'Honeymoon period'

Neighborhood groups are not happy either, but they insist noise enforcement has broken down.

"What we found was there was kind of a honeymoon period after the amendment got passed, and a task force was formed to enforce the noise ordinance," said Jane Cahill-West, president of the Super Neighborhood 22, a coalition of civic groups along the Washington Avenue corridor. "And now it's only rarely being enforced. The worst thing is even when citations are being written, they are not being successfully prosecuted in municipal court."

Houston police officials said they do not know how many club employees have been arrested and don't maintain statistics on the number of violations issued or their disposition. They referred those questions to the city's Municipal Court, but a May 17 open records request by the Houston Chronicle for enforcement statistics has not been completed.

Sgt. Mike Hill, who is training HPD officers on the new sound ordinance, said anecdotal information shows bars on the Washington Avenue corridor near downtown have been ticketed the most frequently. Hill said so far only one case has been heard in Municipal Court, and though he did not know who was involved, the club was fined $50.

"We've had some citizens asking why we weren't issuing a ticket the first time we came out," said Hill, who explained HPD officers have been instructed to first issue a warning and try to educate residents, as well as club owners, about the ordinance.

Review overdue

Cahill-West said Parker's administration failed to provide a comprehensive review of the revised ordinance promised after the first six months of enforcement. Council member Ed Gonzalez acknowledged that review is overdue, adding it will likely take place in July following city budget hearings.

Citizen reaction to the noise ordinance has been "mixed," Gonzalez said, adding the main complaint concerns the "subjective nature" used by police to determine when sounds violate the law.

Gonzalez suggested a possible change in the ordinance to require that lower frequency noises, such as vibrations from bass musical equipment, be measured by instrumentation.

Subdued Mother's Day

A Mother's Day performance was halted earlier this month at a popular bar and grill on Washington Avenue called Hughes Hangar, when Houston police arrived and arrested three club employees including disc jockey Albert Rowen. The trio said they were arrested for violating the noise ordinance. Police would not say why they were detained, though other club workers in the city have been arrested for interfering with an investigation.

"We've been getting tickets basically every week, and we've really been trying do the right thing," said Rowen, also known as DJ Bizz. "We started out with six speakers, and now we're down to two. We have installed sound curtains."

Katherine Wyeth, the club's 29-year-old general manager, said she was simply representing the club and denies getting into an altercation with officers.

"I've never been in trouble, ever," said Wyeth, who spent Mother's Day night in jail. "I'm just trying to manage a bar and restaurant and be a mom at the same time. I'm just trying to support a family."

Saleem Fernandez, 30, is the owner of four Houston clubs and bars along Washington Avenue and in the Midtown area. He said he's personally received three tickets, and his clubs have received 15.

"The ordinance is flawed in the way it's written. It's pro-resident, pro-police, but it's not pro-business," Fernandez said. "In a town that has no zoning, we come to lots of forks in the road where there are residents next to entertainment venues."

Fitzgerald's, a landmark music venue in the Heights, has boarded over patio doors, installed double exit doors to limit sound and packed walls with sound-proofing materials. "Even with all the things we've done," explained Paul VanDemark, the club's general manager, "we still experience complaints from the community saying our venue is too noisy."

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